Can we have a forum category for discussing the API?

The people who use the iNaturalist API are a very specific audience that would benefit greatly from having a dedicated category in the Forum. This would give us a place to congregate and share ideas, tips, tricks, and code. I hate putting such discussions in General since I know that 99% of people there aren’t at all interested in such technical discussions.

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I don’t have any particular opinion about the inclusion of such a category, but I am curious whether a discord channel or adding an iNat-specific thread to an outside api/coding forum would be better. I genuinely don’t know what the pros and cons might be.

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I’m not a coder, but would something a bit broader work? Besides the API, are there other behind-the-scenes tech aspects of iNat that could encompass? Like maybe some of @alex’s posts about CV training?

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Maybe so. Maybe something like “Technical”? CV training does seem like a similar case. I think having a dedicated forum category for technical topics would give folks permission (so to speak) to really geek out on these things and might help foster more collaboration on technical projects. Anyway, just an idea I wanted to throw out there!

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Not into API, but would love a dedicated place to read anything about CV (used on iNat that is).

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I do read the API posts and then quickly realize I am not interested in anything written in the posts. I don’t mind them being in the General forum though. We seek out anything that interests us, and quickly learn to filter.

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I would love a dedicated place here to talk about the API. At this point, building my own iOS app, it is practically the only reason I come here looking for answers.

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I think that a forum category or sub-category would also make it more straightforward for anyone who wanted to know more about it to find information. I concur with the suggestion to make it a broader focus that includes technical topics.

I’m not sure whether the 99% estimate is accurate but there a lot of active iNat accounts and 1% would still be a pretty large number. I rarely use the api but I do understand its function and I do have some experience coding; I expect that there are a fair number of others whose profile is similar.

I loathe most social media. iNat is a pleasant exception (usually) to the toxicity that is almost universal in that universe. I use the forum. I, and perhaps some others, would be more likely to use a resource on this forum because of the more-or-less well enforced civility here than would be the case for something on another social media forum.

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